HAPPY FATHER'S DAY
Tomorrow, June 18, is Father’s Day, and I wanted to make sure we here at Evertime Realms sent out a special greeting to all the dads out there. To the Petit dads, pictured here - my own father Kerry and his brothers Myron, Todd and Kent, and the newest Petit dad, my cousin Jonathan; to my uncles on my mother’s side of the family, Renee, Wally and Scott, to my good buddy Mark Bilcharz (celebrating his first Father’s Day this year), to Erin’s father Deen Blash - on the off-chance you’re reading this, sir, I’m really looking forward to meeting you - and to all the other fathers out there. Have a great day!
From the “What I’m Watching Department”
As part of the run-up to Superman Returns, Warner Brothers is releasing a whole slew of Superman-related DVDs this week, including TV-show sets of George Reeves’ Adventures of Superman (Seasons Three and Four), Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman (Season Three), the first season of the highly underrated Superboy TV show, Superman: The Animated Series (Volume Three), Justice League (Season Two) and Krypto the Superdog Volume One: Cosmic Canine, the documentary Look, Up in the Sky! and a new animated feature film, Superman: Brainiac Attacks. Of course, I want almost all of them (I can live without Lois and Clark). But to spare my wallet, Cartoon Network featured the premiere of Superman: Brainiac Attacks earlier tonight, and I watched it.
Brainiac Attacks is based on Superman: The Animated Series and marks the return of actor Tim Daly to the role of Superman and Clark Kent, as well as returning Dana Delany to her role of Lois Lane. As Clark ponders his future - specifically, the idea of a future with Lois -- Brainiac launches another assault on Metropolis, this time poisoning Lois and lacing her body with trace levels of Kryptonite, limiting Superman’s ability to help. Having Daly and Delany back is just wonderful. George Newburn did a solid job as Superman on the Justice League cartoon, but Daly’s voice came to fit that character in my mind the same way Kevin Conroy’s voice is Batman. The story of the film is okay, if not great, but Lex Luthor was a real disappointment. Clancy Brown does not reprise the role - which is odd, as he continued to portray him on Justice League, and Powers Boothe is a poor replacement. The writing team has to take some of the blame - their Luthor is so flippant and childish at times that I was certain early on in the film he was suffering from some sort of Brainiac mind control and kept waiting for him to break free, but it never happened. Boothe doesn’t have the determined, demanding tone of Brown, and the way this classic villain was handled pulled the whole movie down for me.
It’s a good film, but not great, and especially disappointing if you compare it to some of the excellent follow-up movies to Batman: The Animated Series. Still, I’m glad to see that the Dini/Timm universe lives on in movies, and I hope they continue the series for a long time.
Blake’s Universal Rules of the Universe!
Rule #174: It is possible, in middle schools, for a couple to meet, fall for each other, have a meaningful relationship and break up bitterly without ever speaking fact-to-face. Sometimes this happens in the space of a single class period.
New This Week:
Today’s new additions to the Evertime Realms archives, friends, are my “Everything But Imaginary” column Crazy Little Thing Called Love, my “Think About It” column Save Me From Celebrities, my special “Crossfire” conversation with Mark Bilcharz about Marvel’s Civil War Saturday Special: Whose Side Are You On?, my review of the movie Cars, and the following reviews at Comixtreme.com: 100 Bullets #73 (Good), American Virgin #4 (Fair), Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight #207 (Below Average), Cartoon Network Action Pack #2 (Good), Firestorm: The Nuclear Man #26 (Very Good), Red Sonja/Claw: Devil’s Hands #4 (Very Good), Michael Moorcock’s Elric: The Making of a Sorcerer #3 (Average), Dork Tower #33 (Good), Walt Disney’s Comics and Stories #669 (Very Good), Superman Returns Prequel #1 (Very Good), 52 #6 (Very Good), Exiles #82 (Good), and Captain Atom: Armageddon #9 (Good)! Enjoy.